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EFF in the News

EFF in the News

“Under the government’s theory, anyone who disregards — or doesn’t read — the terms of service on any website could face computer crime charges,” said EFF civil liberties director Jennifer Granick in a press release. “Price-comparison services, social network aggregators, and users who skim a few years off their ages could all be criminals if the government prevails.”

The Electronic Frontier Foundation, a pro-technology advocacy group, and the American Civil Liberties Union had challenged Dunlap Grubb's attempt to file a single lawsuit against thousands of people. In the case of "The Hurt Locker," Voltage has obtained at least 5,000 Internet Protocol addresses belonging to people it says shared the film illegally. Representatives of the EFF and the ACLU argue there is nothing that binds these people together and that making them all defendants in a single suit isn't proper.

Prince sees big things ahead for daily newspapers...Either that or Prince is still pissed about that baby on YouTube dancing to his barely audible "Let's Go Crazy." YouTube yanked the video in 2007 after receiving a takedown notice from Universal Music Publishing Group, reportedly at the artist’s behest.

The kid’s mom turned to the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and the digital advocacy group called "Shenanigans!" over Universal’s misuse of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Now that groundbreaking video is back on YouTube, where it cleared the way for all the "Single Ladies (Put A Ring on It)" babies of today.

This isn't to say that ticket scalpers and resellers who buy up all the tickets aren't necessarily a problem, but should they be criminally liable because they violate a website's terms of service? The EFF and some others have now filed an amicus brief in the case, suggesting that this is a ridiculous outcome. No one should be criminally liable for not obeying the terms of service on a website. If that's the case, it's easy to make anyone a criminal.

The men, dubbed the “Wiseguys” because they ran Wiseguy Tickets Inc., claim U.S. prosecutors misapplied the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act and wire fraud statute to charge them with illegaly getting ahead of the public to buy premium seats through Ticketmaster, Live Nation Entertainment Inc., Telecharge and other vendors...A friend-of-the-court brief in support of the defendants also was filed by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a non- profit digital civil liberties organization.

Is it illegal to break a ticket seller’s terms of service? And is protecting the ticket seller’s market control good for consumers? These questions were brought up by an amicus brief filed on Friday by the Electronic Frontier Foundation. The brief sided with the operators of Wiseguys Tickets Inc., who were arrested for using automated programs to buy tickets from Ticketmaster and others for resale through their company. The prosecution, says the EFF, expands the scope of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act beyond Congress’s intentions by linking it to an original ticket vendor’s (OTV) terms of service. “Whatever the impropriety of cutting the line for goods offered to the general public, doing so is not a CFAA offense,” reads the brief. “Moreover, this Court should not presume that fans benefit from Ticketmaster and other OTVs’ control over the market.”